Social media users generally expect the algorithm to read their area of interest and give similar suggestions. But that may not be the case with X. X owner Elon Musk tried to explain why completely unrelated content may appear on the timeline of the social media platform.

Social media users generally expect the algorithm to read their area of interest and give similar suggestions. But that may not be the case with X. X owner Elon Musk tried to explain why completely unrelated content may appear on the timeline of the social media platform. Also Read: Elon Musk calls 'X' as 'Twitter' in a post, forgets he rebranded social media platform Explaining the algorithm of X, tech billionaire Elon Musk wrote, "The X algorithm assumes that if you interact with content, you want to see more of that content. One of the strongest signals is if you forward X posts to friends, it assumes you like that content a lot, because it takes effort to forward. Unfortunately, if the actual reason you forwarded the content to friends was because you /were outraged by it, we are currently not smart enough to realise that." The 𝕏 algorithm assumes that if you interact with content, you want to see more of that content. One of the strongest signals is if you forward 𝕏 posts to friends, it assumes you like that content a lot, because it takes effort to forward. Unfortunately, if the actual reason… — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 2, 2024 × Musk shared the post on September 2. Since it was shared, the post received nearly 10 million views. Here's how netizens reacted to Musk's post "I love that X continues to adapt the algo and support all users, including smaller accounts. Premium is so worth it when you make it all back and some in ad revenue," wrote a user. Watch: Elon Musk's X banned in Brazil after disinformation row "Speaking of X, in-app search needs a lot of work, and I think some sort of integration with Grok would be very useful For example, I wanted to find a video of a meme I wanted to send to someone. I couldn't find the meme by typing what it was on 𝕏 search, but when I asked Grok about the same meme, it quoted posts using the meme. Grok's explore feature has been exceptional. Now I want elements of it included in search results somehow," said another user. "Can we all agree that THIS is the exact reason that we need a dislike button? If Likes are hidden, we can hide Dislikes, but at least the algorithm can assume that if we share something but dislike it, then we don't like it and we don't have to see more.....," wrote a third user. "The X algorithm was amazing in December of 2022 and June of 2023. That was the pinnacle of greatness. It’s been downhill since then for a few reasons. Right now, it’s the least effective it’s ever been. It was pretty good about a month ago, too," commented another user. (With inputs from agencies)

Elon Musk explains algorithm of X, calls it 'not smart enough to realise' user is enraged by post

Now in a bid to check if users are over 13, social media giant Instagram is using AI to verify user age. Instagram is enforcing new user age restrictions.

Instagram using AI to verify user age in a bid to check if users are over 13

China's ride hailing giant Didi Global Inc stores all China user and roads data at servers in the country and it is 'absolutely not possible' that the company passed data to the United States, a senior company executive said on Saturday. 
 
Didi Vice President Li Min also said the company would sue any social media users, who said the company transferred data during its recent initial public offering (IPO) process after claims were made on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform. 
 
China's cyberspace agency announced on Friday it had launched an investigation into Didi to protect national security and the public interest, just two days after the company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange. 
 
News of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) probe, and the agency's decision to block Didi from registering new users during its investigation, knocked 5% off Beijing-based Didi's shares on Friday. 
 
"Like many overseas-listed Chinese companies, Didi stores all domestic user data at servers in China, it is absolutely not possible to pass data to the United States," Li said in a post on Weibo. 
 
Didi, which offers services in China and more than 15 international markets, gathers vast amounts of real-time mobility data every day. It uses some of the data for autonomous driving technologies and traffic analysis. 
 
Founded by Will Cheng in 2012, the company has already faced regulatory probes in China over safety and its operations licence.

The cyberspace agency did not give any indication of how the long the investigation would last or provide any other details. 
 
Didi said on Friday, it planned to conduct a comprehensive examination of cybersecurity risks and would cooperate fully with the relevant government authority. It also said apart from the suspension of new user registrations in China, it was operating normally. 
 
(With inputs from agencies)

China's ride hailing giant Didi Global Inc stores all China user and roads data at servers in the country and it is 'absolutely not possible' that the company passed data to the United States, a senior company executive said on Saturday.

China's ride hailing giant Didi Global Inc stores all China user and roads data at servers in the country and it is 'absolutely not possible' that the company passed data to the United States, a senior company executive said on Saturday. Didi Vice President Li Min also said the company would sue any social media users, who said the company transferred data during its recent initial public offering (IPO) process after claims were made on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform. China's cyberspace agency announced on Friday it had launched an investigation into Didi to protect national security and the public interest, just two days after the company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange. News of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) probe, and the agency's decision to block Didi from registering new users during its investigation, knocked 5% off Beijing-based Didi's shares on Friday. "Like many overseas-listed Chinese companies, Didi stores all domestic user data at servers in China, it is absolutely not possible to pass data to the United States," Li said in a post on Weibo. Didi, which offers services in China and more than 15 international markets, gathers vast amounts of real-time mobility data every day. It uses some of the data for autonomous driving technologies and traffic analysis. Founded by Will Cheng in 2012, the company has already faced regulatory probes in China over safety and its operations licence. The cyberspace agency did not give any indication of how the long the investigation would last or provide any other details. Didi said on Friday, it planned to conduct a comprehensive examination of cybersecurity risks and would cooperate fully with the relevant government authority. It also said apart from the suspension of new user registrations in China, it was operating normally. (With inputs from agencies)

Didi says stores all user and roads data at servers in China

Audio chat app Clubhouse has denied any breach or hack after a report said that a database containing 1.3 million scraped records of the platform's users were posted on a popular hacker forum.&nbsp;

According to a report in CyberNews on Saturday, the 'leaked' database contains a variety of user-related information from Clubhouse profiles, including user ID, name, photo URL, username, Twitter handle, Instagram handle, number of followers, number of people followed by the user, account creation date, and invited by user profile name.&nbsp;

The invite-only app, available currently only for iPhone users, called the report 'misleading and false’.&nbsp;

"Clubhouse has not been breached or hacked. The data referred to is all public profile information from our app, which anyone can access via the app or our API," Clubhouse said in a statement on Twitter.&nbsp;

The CyberNews report said that the scraped data posted on the hacker forum can be used by cybercriminals to carry out targeted phishing or other types of social engineering attacks, and that such database can also be used by threat actors to brute-force the passwords of Clubhouse profiles.&nbsp;

The news comes within a few days of an archive with data purportedly scraped from 500 million LinkedIn profiles reportedly put for sale on a popular hacker forum emerged, with another two million records leaked as a proof-of-concept sample by people behind the hack.&nbsp;

Earlier this month, another data leak report rocked social media users as personal data of nearly 533 million Facebook users, including 61 lakh Indians, remerged online after a hacker posted the details on a digital forum.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;

Audio chat app Clubhouse has denied any breach or hack after a report said that a database containing 1.3 million scraped records of the platform's users were posted on a popular hacker forum.

Audio chat app Clubhouse has denied any breach or hack after a report said that a database containing 1.3 million scraped records of the platform's users were posted on a popular hacker forum. According to a report in CyberNews on Saturday, the 'leaked' database contains a variety of user-related information from Clubhouse profiles, including user ID, name, photo URL, username, Twitter handle, Instagram handle, number of followers, number of people followed by the user, account creation date, and invited by user profile name. The invite-only app, available currently only for iPhone users, called the report 'misleading and false’. "Clubhouse has not been breached or hacked. The data referred to is all public profile information from our app, which anyone can access via the app or our API," Clubhouse said in a statement on Twitter. The CyberNews report said that the scraped data posted on the hacker forum can be used by cybercriminals to carry out targeted phishing or other types of social engineering attacks, and that such database can also be used by threat actors to brute-force the passwords of Clubhouse profiles. The news comes within a few days of an archive with data purportedly scraped from 500 million LinkedIn profiles reportedly put for sale on a popular hacker forum emerged, with another two million records leaked as a proof-of-concept sample by people behind the hack. Earlier this month, another data leak report rocked social media users as personal data of nearly 533 million Facebook users, including 61 lakh Indians, remerged online after a hacker posted the details on a digital forum. (With inputs from agencies)

1.3 mn scraped Clubhouse user records posted online: Report 

Google is phasing out user-tracking "cookies" which allow the web giant to deliver personalised ads.

The downside of employing these cookies has been that they have raised the hackles of privacy defenders. The US internet giant has been hammered by critics over user privacy, and is keenly aware of trends for legislation protecting people's data rights.

Google, only last month, unveiled the results of tests showing an alternative to the longstanding tracking practice, claiming it could improve online privacy while still enabling advertisers to serve up relevant messages.

"This approach effectively hides individuals 'in the crowd' and uses on-device processing to keep a person’s web history private on the browser," Google product manager Chetna Bindra explained in unveiling the system called Federated Learning of Cohorts&nbsp;(FLoC).

She added, "Results indicate that when it comes to generating interest-based audiences,&nbsp;FLoC can provide an effective replacement signal for third-party cookies."

Google plans to begin testing the FLoC approach with advertisers later this year with its Chrome browser.

Talking of privacy issues, some kinds of cookies -- which are text files stored when a user visits a website -- are a convenience for logins and browsing at frequently visited sites.

Anyone who has pulled up a registration page online only to have their name and address automatically entered where required has cookies to thank.&nbsp;But other kinds of cookies, especially the third-party ones, are seen by some as nefarious.

Safari and Firefox browsers have already done away with third-party cookies, but they are still used at the world's most popular browser - Chrome.

And Chrome accounted for 63 per cent of the global browser market last year, according to StatCounter.

Google is phasing out user-tracking "cookies" which allow the web giant to deliver personalised ads. The downside of employing these cookies has been that they have raised the hackles of privacy defenders.

Google is phasing out user-tracking "cookies" which allow the web giant to deliver personalised ads. The downside of employing these cookies has been that they have raised the hackles of privacy defenders. The US internet giant has been hammered by critics over user privacy, and is keenly aware of trends for legislation protecting people's data rights. Google, only last month, unveiled the results of tests showing an alternative to the longstanding tracking practice, claiming it could improve online privacy while still enabling advertisers to serve up relevant messages. "This approach effectively hides individuals 'in the crowd' and uses on-device processing to keep a person’s web history private on the browser," Google product manager Chetna Bindra explained in unveiling the system called Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC). She added, "Results indicate that when it comes to generating interest-based audiences, FLoC can provide an effective replacement signal for third-party cookies." Google plans to begin testing the FLoC approach with advertisers later this year with its Chrome browser. Talking of privacy issues, some kinds of cookies -- which are text files stored when a user visits a website -- are a convenience for logins and browsing at frequently visited sites. Anyone who has pulled up a registration page online only to have their name and address automatically entered where required has cookies to thank. But other kinds of cookies, especially the third-party ones, are seen by some as nefarious. Safari and Firefox browsers have already done away with third-party cookies, but they are still used at the world's most popular browser - Chrome. And Chrome accounted for 63 per cent of the global browser market last year, according to StatCounter.

Google phases out user-tracking 'cookies'

The popular 'search' tool of <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/google">Google</a> will soon be redesigned for mobile users with changes in colours specifically to help the users.

This decision has been taken to make sure the users can have a better and easier reading experience.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/google-threatens-to-halt-search-feature-in-australia-over-new-media-payment-law-pm-reacts-358422" hreflang="en">Google threatens to halt 'search' feature in Australia over new media payment law; PM reacts</a>

Google search's new update will have larger and bolder text font and size which will help the human eyes survey the text faster and more easily.

The fonts, which are now being planned to use, are the ones which are already in use in other Google products in Android and Gmail.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/google-threatens-to-halt-search-feature-in-australia-over-new-media-payment-law-pm-reacts-358422" hreflang="en">Google threatens to halt 'search' feature in Australia over new media payment law; PM reacts</a>

It is also planning to use colours in a way that will help highlight important information without the user getting distracted or lost.&nbsp;

The colours will be used in a 'more intentional' manner which will help enhance the user experience.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/google-maps-removes-road-of-bones-route-after-russian-driver-freezes-to-death-349526" hreflang="en">Google Maps removes 'Road of Bones' route after Russian driver freezes to death</a>

"We wanted to take a step back to simplify a bit so people could find what they’re looking for faster and more easily. I find it really refreshing. We want to let the search results shine, allowing people to focus on the information instead of the design elements around it," Aileen Cheng, a designer at Google said.

In the new update, Google will place content on a clean background to make sure the users do not get overwhelmed by the heavy backgrounds. The new design will also be bouncier and more lively.

The popular 'search' tool of Google will soon be redesigned for mobile users with changes in colours specifically to help the users. This decision has been taken to make sure the users can have a better and easier reading experience.

The popular 'search' tool of Google will soon be redesigned for mobile users with changes in colours specifically to help the users. This decision has been taken to make sure the users can have a better and easier reading experience. Also read| Google threatens to halt 'search' feature in Australia over new media payment law; PM reacts Google search's new update will have larger and bolder text font and size which will help the human eyes survey the text faster and more easily. The fonts, which are now being planned to use, are the ones which are already in use in other Google products in Android and Gmail. Also read| Google threatens to halt 'search' feature in Australia over new media payment law; PM reacts It is also planning to use colours in a way that will help highlight important information without the user getting distracted or lost. The colours will be used in a 'more intentional' manner which will help enhance the user experience. Also read| Google Maps removes 'Road of Bones' route after Russian driver freezes to death "We wanted to take a step back to simplify a bit so people could find what they’re looking for faster and more easily. I find it really refreshing. We want to let the search results shine, allowing people to focus on the information instead of the design elements around it," Aileen Cheng, a designer at Google said. In the new update, Google will place content on a clean background to make sure the users do not get overwhelmed by the heavy backgrounds. The new design will also be bouncier and more lively.

Colour coded: Google to redesign 'search' for better user experience

user-0

User, News on User, stories on User, articles on User, User stories at Wion, User news, User latest news